sustainability

Susan and Stephen Tchudi, hosts of the long-running radio show Ecotopia, are among the few interviewers who take time to actually read their guests’ books in advance, and prepare thoughtful questions.

So we were thrilled when they invited our client Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Slick Water: Fracking, and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry, to be on their show last week.

The entire hour was devoted to hydraulic fracturing—fracking—and its impacts. In the first half of the program they spoke with Andrew by phone from Alberta, Canada. He described the fascinating and frightening history of how fracking has evolved over the past 150 years, and then he told the story of Jessica Ernst, a person who has launched a single-handed campaign against commercial fracking and the Canadian government.

And in the second half of the program, they spoke with Dave Garcia, who has led the anti-fracking movement up in Butte County. He gave an update on the June 7 ballot measure that would ban fracking in Butte County, and provided precise and well researched information on why fracking is a danger, not only to the county, but to the world.

Ecotopia airs on KZFR 90.1 Chico, CA, Tuesdays, 6-7 pm and covers issues ranging from water to population to homesteading to energy and from do-it-yourself to what-can-we do? At Carney & Associates, we specialize in media relations for people who improve our world, especially those in areas of sustainability. We’re grateful that the Tchudi’s have interviewed many, many of our clients over the years. They are excellent hosts who produce intelligent, high-quality programming.

This was one of many media placements we secured during our book publicity campaign for Slick Water. Please contact me for a free consultation to discuss how our public relations services can help with your publicity needs.

With the human-caused “sixth extinction” receiving increasing attention in media coverage of climate change and the environment, I was honored to handle the publicity campaign for TheANNIHILATION OF NATURE: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals, by Gerardo Ceballos, Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich, and published the Johns Hopkins University Press.

The authors bring enormous credibility and passion to the topic: Gerardo Ceballos is one of the world’s leading ecologists and professor at the Institute of Ecology at National Autonomous University of Mexico. Anne H. Ehrlich is a senior research scientist emeritus at Stanford University. Paul R. Ehrlich is the Bing Professor of Population Studies and the president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University.

Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals . We’re currently experiencing the highest amount of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times that, with dozens going extinct every day.

During our book publicity campaign, the authors explained these dynamics but their emphasis was inevitably on the heartbreaking and unavoidable evidence that this extinction is human-caused and increasing.

In The Annihilation of Nature, wonderful photography presents the amazing animals and environments that are under assault. Extraordinary full-spread photographs introduce each chapter. The effect, not quite celebratory, not quite elegiac, is just right in conveying how high are the stakes and how vital the message.

Our PR campaign was a great success. The book was reviewed everywhere from the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books to Salon.com, Science News, Bioscience, and Photo Review. Paul ‘s interviews aired on more than 1500 radio stations across the U.S. and Canada.

All royalties for this title go to the Navjot Sodhi Fund at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, which supports the work of young conservation biologists.

At Carney & Associates, we are proud to specialize in publicity campaigns for nature, the environment, climate change, biodiversity, food scarcity, and other sustainability issues.

Please contact me for a free consultation to discuss how our public relations services can help with your publicity needs.